There were no significant associations between BMI and colorectal or breast cancer mortality.

There were no significant associations between long-term change in BMI and mortality from any types of cancer analyzed. However, short-term change in BMI decreased mortality from all types of cancer, particularly in females.

Finally, "chronic obesity" was found to have an association with higher mortality from all types of cancer.

Author's Conclusions

Increase in BMI is associated with an increased risk of mortality from all types of cancer in females and an increased mortality risk from prostate cancer in males

Increase in BMI was associated with a decreased lung cancer mortality risk, especially in males.

More research is needed into the biological mechanisms that link BMI to cancer.

Clinical Implications

This study is highly relevant and timely given the large obesity epidemic facing most developed countries.

Rates of obesity has increased dramatically in the United States with further projected increases in the near future.

Prior studies have provided compelling evidence that obesity is linked to cancer incidence and mortality for cancers of the endometrium, kidney, gallbladder, breast, colon, rectum, pancreas, thyroid, and esophagus. Data on other cancers have been mixed. (Calle, NEJM, 2003).

Most importantly, like tobacco smoking, obesity may represents a potentially avoidable cause of cancer incidence and death, and the attributable fraction of death from obesity is high.

A 2007 study using NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data, estimated that in the United States, about 34,000 new cases of cancer in men (4%) and 50,500 in women (7%) were due to obesity.

A projection of the future health and economic burden of obesity in 2030 estimated that continuation of existing trends in obesity will lead to about 500,000 additional cases of cancer in the United States by 2030.

The contributions of this study include investigation of changes in BMI, as well as chronic obesity as a risk factor.

Further effort needs to be focused on understanding the processes linking obesity with cancer to develop new public health approaches to prevention and early detection of cancer in the at-risk overweight/obese population.

Dec 28, 2010 - Blacks have a higher rate of mortality than whites, Hispanics, and Asians after treatment for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma, and this disparity persists even after adjusting for various types of treatment and treatment benefit, according to research published in the December issue of the Archives of Surgery.